Advice on pickups for a 1947 Martin D-28

[Bill Reid]

I would like to put one or two pickups into a 1947 Martin D-28. without drilling and without marring the outside. I have never done this, but understand there are good magnetics for the soundhole and external piezos for the high end that sit near the base of the neck. Will do the same with an early Takamine 12-string (the series that looks like a Martin D-28, long before the head change) and maybe an old classical. Looking for true reproduction, not effects or volume. My amp is a Marshall AS100D. Appreciate hearing from anyone with some good experience. I'm located in the Texas Hill Country and play & write folk & blues. Folks are welcome to email reid at FewerSorrowsMusic dot com. Many thanks. Bill Reid

[tanglewood09]

one word, barcus-berry. i have a barcus-berry "maplebar" pickup system on my 72 d-28. it by far has to be the best "stick-on" guitar pick-up i've ever used, and it's also very simple to use as well. i have a tacoma dr-14 acoustic-electric with a very nice lr-baggs pick-up system in it and it isn't far off from sounding just as good. you can give it a try and see what you think.

[Bill Reid]

Thanks for the reply. Before you wrote, I got Baggs M1A units for both the old D-28 and a 40-year-old Tak 12-string. The pickups worked well, but I hated the pigtail (and did not choose to drill either instrument for a strap-pin plug). Finally (last week) bought a Taylor CE414 that sounds great and plays very well, which I will use for recording and gigs (never liked taking the older instruments out anyway, fearing they'd get broken -- or get legs). The Taylor has just been set up by an Austin luthier (Erlewine, though I also like Bill Giebitz a lot), and I'm looking forward to a studio session next week.